National Blog

Internet Sales Taxes - Still Unpopular

One item on Campaign for Liberty's legislative agenda this year has been fighting to defeat the so-called "Marketplace Fairness Act," or the National Internet Tax Mandate as we call it.

Despite Senator Reid rushing it through the Senate at the beginning of this Congress, grassroots opposition to this legislation has managed to stall its momentum in the House so far.

A new survey of likely voters shows that a majority remain opposed, despite a concerted effort by major retailers like Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and Amazon to frame this legislation as an issue of "Mom & Pop" brick-and-mortar stores vs. the "Big Bad Internet."

A poll conducted for a pair of conservative groups finds most voters opposed to federal Internet sales tax legislation and suggests that lawmakers who vote for it could face attacks in the midterm elections.

The results of July surveys for the National Taxpayers Union and R Street, shared first with POLITICO, show that 57 percent of “likely” voters oppose changing the system for how states collect sales taxes from Internet purchases. One-third support it.

Mercury, the public affairs firm that conducted the poll for the groups that oppose the Marketplace Fairness Act, found that majorities of suburban voters, women and independents oppose the measure. In a separate poll specifically of Republican voters, 66 percent opposed changing the system.

These results are consistent with other polling on the issue, including one that found 74% of young Americans aged 18-29 oppose Internet sales taxes.